Evan Hadfield (’09) was at Mission Control for the space-based social media campaign that gave people around the world an insider’s view of life in space.

Evan Hadfield (’09), son of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, was at Mission Control for the space-based social media campaign that gave Twitter followers and media around the world an insider’s view of life in space.

Throughout his space mission in 2012-13, the elder Hadfield, with the help of a trio of Allisonians — Evan, Justin Lavigne (’08) and Aaron Murphy (’07), had more than a million followers on Twitter, hanging onto his every word and out-of-this-world photographs.

Hadfield says the original intent in using Twitter was to do something “interesting” for his father’s last flight.

“It would be the first time a Canadian was a commander and it was a big deal to us, but we didn’t know if it would be a big deal to anyone else,” he says.

It was.

Hadfield says people are fascinated by space, but don’t often get to see what ordinary life is like on the space station. The elder Hadfield had a knack for capturing the wonder of space flight — showing people how to play Scrabble on the ceiling, what crying is like in space, what astronauts eat, and how to wash your hands with weightless water.

Hadfield is still working for his father, and also co-founded a digital media consulting company with Murphy.